Chapter 297
Chapter 297
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 297
Chapter Title: Let's Go Back
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"Now's the time to laugh?!"
The one scolding the two of them was Bioiren.
She glared at them with a face full of fury before inspecting the nearly shattered barrier.
"If this keeps up, we're going to be trapped forever in the space between the barriers Mom set up!"
Sure enough, this wasn't the moment to just laugh it off.
Krash reined in his smile and turned to Bioiren.
"Bioiren, did you recover your power?"
"...Barely managed it. But only half."
Bioiren gazed wistfully at the now completely erased willow tree, after enduring so many hardships.
'So that means half the power is...'
In the willow branch the Hell Fairy had taken.
Krash clicked his tongue.
They had come fully prepared, but Ixion's side had done the same.
'The Hell Fairy was the one stealing the power.'
The fact that she had ultimately taken half was proof.
"That's enough."
Krash decided to put the aftermath aside for now.
The priority was solving the immediate crisis.
"Bioiren, can you get us out of this barrier?"
"...I've been trying ever since earlier. But."
Bioiren's face was stiff as she replied.
"Something's wrong. My barrier techniques aren't activating properly. Every time I try to use my power, it feels like it's being nullified."
She anxiously tapped at the barrier master's barrier repeatedly.
But she couldn't properly wield her barrier techniques.
The one thing that had changed about her since before.
There was only one.
"Could it be because of the Kimum you just absorbed?"
Bioiren's unique trait, Kimum.
Even if it was only half, her trait was stabilizing the power of World Erosion itself.
Ironically, that was interfering with her own barrier techniques.
Bioiren had never tried activating barrier techniques while possessing this trait.
With the fundamental way she used her abilities changed, it was holding her back instead.
"Ah."
Bioiren's expression turned flustered as the realization hit her.
It meant she'd have to rebuild her barrier techniques from the ground up to use them properly again.
"Then."
Crack!
Bioiren urgently eyed the barrier cracking more and more rapidly.
At this rate, she couldn't even seal the breaches.
The moment anxiety flickered in her eyes, Krash spoke up.
"Bioiren, mind if I take that off your hands?"
Hearing his next words, Bioiren turned to him with a puzzled look.
"Remember when I absorbed the barrier cast on your body back then?"
Bioiren's eyes widened.
There was that method, indeed.
But separately, something weighed on Bioiren's mind.
"Krash, if you take it."
The trait Ixion had taken from Bioiren was only half.
If they thought it sufficient, they might leave her alone, but if not, they'd come for more.
What if Krash absorbed that trait?
Naturally, Ixion would target Krash even more intensely.
It might end up burdening him greatly.
But Krash looked at Bioiren without a care.
"I'm already their top priority target anyway."
Especially now, after establishing himself as a clear threat to them.
Ixion would come at him with everything they had from here on out.
A little extra baggage wouldn't make a difference.
"Trust me with it. I won't let those bastards get the drop on me."
"......"
Bioiren quietly stared at Krash before biting her lip hard.
Then she punched him square in the chest.
It hurt.
"...Take it, you damn idiot."
A smile crept onto Krash's lips.
That was all he needed.
Black Hood
[Target: 'Bioiren Jeblam']
Immediately, Bioiren's unique trait transferred to Krash.
The trait was absorbed deep into Krash's body the moment it arrived.
And strangely, the raging heat that had been surging until moments ago began to subside gradually.
The heat stemmed from World Erosion and aura.
Even that rampage was being stabilized by Bioiren's trait.
'With this...'
Even as a glass cannon, he could fire one shot without shattering.
An unexpected gain.
At the same time, he fully understood why Ixion had desperately targeted Bioiren's trait.
This would be invaluable in creating a god of World Erosion.
'Shouldn't have let even half get taken.'
Krash felt a pang of regret but turned to Bioiren.
She let out a quiet breath, her blue eyes gleaming sharply.
"Get ready."
As she raised her hand, layers of barrier technique formations overlaid across the area.
"We're breaking out."
The price of barrier techniques was the time to exert power.
Heavenly Killing Star
Tyrant
Glaisys Lactea
She was known by many names.
A madwoman whose eyes rolled back at the sight of World Erosion beasts.
The one who hated World Erosion the most.
The oldest monster among the Heavenly Killing Stars, and more.
No flattering epithets clung to her amid the myriad infamies.
But one fact everyone knew for certain.
She never lost to World Erosion.
"Hoo."
Glaisys exhaled a long breath, and a pitch-black shadow rippled at her feet.
Blood trickled down the shallow wound on her neck.
This had been a mountain until moments ago.
Now, it was obliterated beyond recognition.
As if a meteor had wiped the entire peak clean.
The ground was barren wasteland, not a single plant in sight.
Before her, a muscular-armed man snorted, fully exposing his form.
Nosebleed dripped to the ground in a few spots.
Having taken one solid hit, he clutched his bloodied nosebridge.
His body was covered in white fur, and his oversized drooping ears marked him as no human.
Beast King
Berdo
The white-furred tribesman hailed as the strongest in raw destructive power among World Erosion.
Sparks of white lightning burst from his body, showcasing his immense might.
The two who had single-handedly razed a mountain stared silently.
Despite turning the mountain to ruin, neither had inflicted a fatal wound yet.
Both were top powerhouses of their factions.
With no openings shown, the fight dragged on.
But battles couldn't last forever.
As they bared fangs to tear into each other's throats once more.
Thick smoke began filling the battlefield.
Glaisys, who had encountered it before, furrowed her brow slightly.
It was Yeonma, the World Erosion user of smoke, at work.
Yeonma had been harassing her relentlessly without fully revealing himself.
She wanted to eliminate him first, but with Berdo charging head-on, it was impossible.
As her shadow writhed and moved once more.
A voice reached her sharp ears.
"...right?"
"Yes, so retreat signal... received."
Muffled by the smoke meant to block sound, but Glaisys caught the gist.
They were pulling back.
Her red eyes flashed at the words.
"You pathetic cowards, running from your own world and now here too? Born fugitives through and through!"
Even her taunt-laced words didn't dispel Yeonma's smoke.
In the end, Glaisys moved first.
Her shadow engulfed the area and surged upward.
As if to blanket the world in darkness, it swept over everything like a tsunami.
A massive attack targeting Berdo's position and Yeonma alike.
Yet where the shadow passed, nothing remained.
They had fled the moment their conversation ended.
"...I've gotten old."
Glaisys grumbled irritably and rummaged in her bosom.
She pulled out a cigar, bit down, and lit it.
In the old days, she'd have chased them relentlessly and finished the job.
Now, her body and will couldn't keep up.
'That's why they pass it to the next generation.'
Her hatred for them had dulled too.
Long ago, when she lost her firstborn to World Erosion.
She had screamed to the world to kill every last one.
Now, even that hatred was waning with age.
But that was fine.
Her children would carry the chain of hatred onward.
Passing that chain—even like a curse—to her offspring was her only solace.
She couldn't close her eyes without it.
"Getting old really sucks."
Having to foist her duties onto her kids.
With a look of life's weariness, she raised her head.
But she had no time to rest yet.
"What's the point if the young ones die?"
She hadn't caught the World Erosion intruders entering the barrier.
Having glimpsed Krash's level beforehand, she didn't think he'd fall easily.
She had deliberately exposed her power before they entered to test him.
Still, one never knew.
World Erosion folk always spawned variables.
'Loose screws like them thinking straight? No chance.'
With cigar in mouth, she turned toward the barrier Krash had entered.
Then.
Boom!
An explosion rang in her ears.
Looking skyward, she saw three figures wreathed in black flame soaring into the air.
They had broken free of the shattered barrier and were now plummeting down.
A stylish landing would be nice, but their battered state made it unlikely.
"Lordy, making this old bag work."
Her body ached all over from the fierce fight after so long.
She rubbed her waist and raised her hand.
Shadows surged up, catching the three one by one.
They slid down the shadows like a slide and tumbled before Glaisys.
Krash looked especially wrecked, even from afar.
He had self-regeneration, but internal wounds seemed too much even for that.
Glaisys removed her cigar and asked Krash, who was looking at her.
"What of the World Erosion?"
Asking about them first, even seeing their state, was so very her.
Krash looked up at her and cracked his neck lightly.
"Gave 'em a solid wallop."
Truly ended with one shot.
Glaisys's lips curved into a grin at the answer.
"Good enough."
Shadows wrapped around Krash and the other two as she turned.
"Tell this old bag where you need to go most."
"To Jeblam, please."
Krash replied, barely clinging to fading consciousness.
From Jeblam, the Demon Emperor could send him straight to Raheln Academy.
He'd owe the Saintess again, but it was always the best option.
"Hold tight."
Glaisys's shadow—which had razed a mountain—surged like a wave, carrying the three toward Jeblam.
Gazing at the scene, Krash saw Bioiren desperately supporting him.
"Bioiren, looks like our guess about your mother was right."
Bioiren fell silent at his words.
It meant the barrier master had fallen to World Erosion.
"Don't even think I'm gonna stupidly ask you to save her."
But her thoughts aligned with what she'd said in the barrier.
"Krash, you're gonna keep facing off against Ixion from now on, right?"
"Yeah."
"If those bastards ever try using Mom as leverage again, tell 'em. I'm not saving a mother who abandoned her daughter."
She didn't want Krash endangered because of her mother, the barrier master.
So if they tried hostage games, Bioiren made sure to relay that firmly.
Krash looked ahead at her words.
"Like I said before, if I can save her, I will."
Bioiren let out a hollow chuckle as if to say do what you want, saying nothing more.
Far off, the sun was setting.
The warm sunlight gradually took on a hint of summer heat.
Meaning Krash's sixteenth summer was fast approaching.